344. See Prov. vi. 17, where 'a lying tongue' is said to be one of the
seven things which 'are an abomination unto' the Lord. See also Prov. x.
31, xvii. 20, xxvi. 28, &c.
345. Cf. Ps. x. 7, xii. 3, lii. 2, lxiv. 3-8, cxx. 3, &c. The reference to
Seneca is, probably, to his treatise De Ira, from which two stories in the
Sompnours Tale are taken; or it may be to the Sentences of Publilius Syrus,
which are frequently quoted in the Tale of Melibeus under the name of
'Senek.'
350. Evidently an allusion to some Flemish proverb, equivalent to our
'least said, soonest mended,' which Hazlitt gives in the form--'Little
said, soon amended.' In Bell's edition, the suggested form of the proverb
is--'of little meddling comes great ease,' which comes nearer to the text.
Chaucer has already given us a Flemish proverb in A. 4357.
355. 'Et semel emissum fugit irreuocabile uerbum'; Horace, Epist. I. xviii.
71. Chaucer found this line of Horace in Albertano's treatise (p. xcviii);
or in Le Roman, 16746-8.
357. Cf. Albertano's treatise, p. cvi:--'Consilium vel secretum tuum
absconditum quasi in carcere tuo est reclusum; revelatum vero te in carcere
suo tenet ligatum.'
359. This is clearly, as Tyrwhitt suggests, from Dionysius Cato, Distich.
lib. i. dist. 12:--'Rumores fuge, ne incipias _novus auctor_ haberi.'
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